An Innocence Lost, A Darkness Gained
by Demidia
Summary: Sakura spent almost 7 months in captivity. How will the torture she endured affect her and the way others will see her? AU non-massacre (On Hiatus)
1. Prologue

Obviously, I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would have a lot more money…

**AN:** _I know, I haven't submitted anything in a very long time, but I just graduated from college this week, and this story has been stuck in my head for a long time. The first few chapters are going to be short since they are focusing on back story and other's POVs. Like I said, it's been a long time, so please let me know what you think :_)

She had been missing for almost seven months. The entire village was worried sick. Countless teams were sent out in search of her with only a small amount of information to go on. She had been sent out on a solo mission to a small village on the border of Fire and Lightening. A virus was wreaking havoc on the villagers, and she had been sent to save them. Unfortunately, she never arrived. From the moment Tsunade realized her apprentice was missing, there were always at least three ANBU teams searching for her at any given time.

Twenty-seven weeks after her disappearance, she was found. Her pink locks and pale skin were stained crimson. The entire right side of her face was undistinguishable due to the amount of blood that covered it. Her clothes ripped and cut to the point she was barely covered. Her bare feet were covered in blisters. The signs of torture were obvious to the ANBU.

The team that found her stated that she had been walking through the woods as if in a trance. She never acknowledged the ANBU team as they attempted to get her to stop. Instead, she continued heading towards Konoha with a faraway look in her only visible eye while she constantly repeated, "I have to make it home. I have to tell them."

In an attempt to get her to stop, one of the ANBU stepped in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. It worked… The moment he laid his hands upon her, she let out a horrified scream and collapsed. The ANBU whom stopped her gathered her in his arms, and the team rushed her to Konoha.

Once they made it into the village, the ANBU carrying her headed for the hospital while the other two went to report to the Hokage. During his rush to get the unconscious kunoichi to the hospital, many villagers saw the young woman in his arms. Within an hour, the majority of the village had heard that Konoha's cherry blossom had returned dead in the arms of an ANBU…


	2. Itachi Waits

Obviously, I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would be famous...

Itachi sat in the chair by the window. He held his ANBU mask tightly in his hand as he stared at the young woman lying unconscious in the hospital bed in front of him. The only time he had left her side since he had rushed her there was when Tsunade and Shizune forced him out of the room to heal and clean her.

For the hundredth time, he surveyed her appearance. Her hair was once again pink, yet there were still streaks that were darker from the blood that had not washed completely out. The newer wounds were no problem. Tsunade had healed them, and now, it was as if they never existed. It was the older wounds that were the problem. A few had been infected and must have caused great pain, but even those had been healed. Unfortunately, her face which only a few months ago was flawless was now scarred from the wounds that she had incurred during the beginning of her capture. Tsunade said they had healed on their own long before she was found. If they had found her sooner, they would have been able to heal them without scarring, but that was not the case.

She had a scar that traveled diagonally across her right eye, one across her nose, and one that traveled horizontally across her left cheek bone. Unfortunately, the scarring was not limited to her face. He had a limited view of her body, but he could see she had a scar running down her throat and several on her shoulders and arms. He assumed the one on her throat was a threat. They had purposely missed the major artery and vein in hopes of scaring her enough to tell them what they wanted to know. Did she? They could not know until she awakened.

He could not help but wonder what other tortures she had incurred during her capture. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He was not particularly close to the girl, but he had known her for many years. She had been his younger brother's genin teammate after all. She had spent many days and nights at his home as Naruto had. She had also made it into the ranks of ANBU a couple of years ago, so they had been on several missions together. No, they were not close, but he still felt protective of her. He had watched her grow from a small, annoying pink haired fangirl into a strong, highly respected kunoichi. She had not deserved this…

He wondered how this would affect her. It was well known that such situations usually cause some sort of change within the victim. He knew of a shinobi whom had been in a similar situation. The man was never the same. He had to be taken off active duty because of his paranoia. He was unable to pass a psychological evaluation even years later.

Haruno Sakura was a happy girl before this incident, or at least, she always seemed to be. She had a smile that was contagious. She had even caused Itachi himself to smile on a rare few occasions. Her eyes always held so much emotion. He wondered what emotions they would show when she awakened.

He would be there when she awakened, and he would see for himself. That was the reason he had requested to be the one to watch over her until she awakened. That is the reason he volunteered to stay and take her report… At least, that is what he keeps telling himself.

**AN:** This story does not have a beta reader, so if there are any mistakes please let me know :) Also, reviews are appreciated! Please let me know what you think :)


	3. Team Kakashi Worried!

Obviously, I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would be Japanese…

Tsunade sat in her office downing a bottle of sake. She was so incredibly relieved Sakura was finally home, yet she was so incredibly saddened by what had happened to her. The ANBU had given their report the moment they arrived, but the written report would not be in until the next morning. Tsunade sighed. What did Sakura mean when she said she had to tell them? And how was she supposed to tell team Kakashi?

At that moment, she felt five familiar chakras making their way to her office and fast. It would seem she would not have time to think on the matter any longer. Without a single knock, her office door flew open and team Kakashi entered with Kakashi himself berating Naruto for his entrance. Not that Naruto paid any mind to him.

"Is it true? Is what the villagers say true?" Naruto shouted.

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her aching forehead.

Naruto took this as an affirmative and screamed, "Oh Kami! It is true! My dear sweet Sakura-chan is dead!" With this he broke down in the middle of her office and started crying. His fit causing Kakashi, Yamato, and Sasuke to bow their heads in remorse. Sai simply stood there uncomfortably as if he had no idea how to react.

Tsunade's brow furrowed. Did they just say… Wait, what had they heard?

"No, no… Sakura is not dead. Where the hell did you hear that?"

Naruto stopped crying and looked up at Tsunade.

"That's what all the villagers are saying," he sniffed.

At this point Kakashi decided to speak up, "The rumor going around the village is that an ANBU was seen carrying a dead Sakura through the village."

Tsunade let out an exasperated sigh. "Damn it all to hell! Can no one in this village keep their damn mouths shut?"

Team Kakashi just stared at their Hokage for a moment.

Yamato looked uncomfortable, but asked what they were all thinking, "Well, if Sakura isn't dead what happened?"

Tsunade looked as if she would rather be anywhere but there. She slowly poured herself another shot and drank the liquid courage quickly. This was not going to be pleasant…

"Baa-chan! Please tell us!"

Tsunade sighed dejectedly. That Naruto… How on Earth had she put up with him for so long?

"Sakura was found wandering through the woods of Fire country. She obviously escaped her captors, but until she wakes up, we won't know how or who they were. She has suffered many injuries. In truth, she is lucky she survived.

I should warn you though. She has extensive scarring. She is blind in her right eye; her face is scarred, as well as the rest of her body. That is all we know for sure at this point in time."

Naruto began crying all over again. "Blind? Can't you do something Baa-chan? I mean, you are the best medic-nin ever! You must be able to help her somehow!"

Tsunade frowned. She has been saying the same thing to herself since she left Sakura's side. Yes, supposedly she is the best medic-nin ever, but she could not help her own student… She knew this. She really didn't need him reminding her, but he didn't know better. For the thousandth time that day, she sighed.

"I'm sorry Naruto… The damage was too extensive and too old. There was nothing I could do except make sure that the eyeball itself was intact. If I had been able to heal her sooner then maybe…"

Naruto bowed his head so that no one could see his face. His shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

"I have to see her," he exclaimed as he started to run out of the room.

"NO," Tsunade shouted. Naruto stopped and stared at her as if she had two heads.

"Sakura is unconscious, and I refuse to allow her to be bothered! If you go then the rest of your team will follow, and I know that you and Sasuke will not be able to stop arguing long enough to give her some peace. Which, by the way, is exactly what she needs right now! I have an ANBU watching over her, and he has been ordered not to allow anyone into the room until she has awakened. Until that time, you are all banned from the hospital unless you are injured! Oh, and just in case you get some bright idea to land yourself in the hospital just to see her, I promise I will take your entire team off active duty for an entire month if any of you seem to have a suspicious injury."

Naruto looked horrified. Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and gave that smile that crinkled his only visible eye. "Come on Naruto. We know she is alive now, and that's all that matters. We will visit her when she wakes up. Besides, it's not like you can ask her questions while she's unconscious."

Naruto sighed but grudgingly agreed.

"I promise that I will let each of you know the moment Sakura wakes up," Tsunade promised, and with that, Team Kakashi left to await word that their cherry blossom had awakened from her nightmare, even if they were not happy about it.

**AN:** Well, here is the third chapter! I hope you all enjoy it! In the next chapter, Sakura will awaken, and the story really begins! :D Please review! I really want to know what everyone thinks. And I know I said this before, but this story does not have a beta. If I make any mistakes, please let me know so I can correct them. Thanks a lot for reading!


	4. The Report

Obviously, I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would be ecstatic right now…

AN: Thanks so much for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites! This was a very difficult chapter for me to put together. My style has a habit of being rather dark, but I had never actually written about torture. Well, here it is! Sakura finally wakes up in this chapter and gives her report on what happened during her capture.

**WARNING! This chapter contains torture and adult situations! **If this makes you uncomfortable, DO NOT READ IT! This story is rated M for a reason.

…

_She felt the cold seeping deep into her bones. The ache flowing into every inch of her body. She was stiff, her shoulders hurt, her wrists hurt, hell everything hurt. Not that it was any surprise. Her wrists were bound behind her back. How long? She had no idea. She had lost all concepts of time months ago. Every time she woke up, she awoke in pain. Every time she went to sleep, she went to sleep in pain._

_She suspected her left shoulder had been dislocated long ago. Her wrists were scratched all to hell from her many attempts to free herself. There was too much blood on her face to see out of her right eye. That is, if she could see out of it at all after what he had done to her. She had an idea of the extent of her injuries, but without the use of her chakra, she could not be sure. _

_They would come for her soon. They always kept an eye on her. If only she had use of her hands…_

_Every time she awoke, she thought the exact same thing. If only she had use of her hands, she could kill herself and end the torture. They knew that though. That is why they kept her at the minimum level of chakra required to live and her wrists bound behind her back. Hell, they even tied her fingers together to ensure she had no way to form hand signs…_

_She had learned more about torture in the past few months than she had ever hoped to learn. __Ibiki__ would be proud… She tried to allow a sardonic smile to grace her lips at the thought, but it was impossible now. She wondered if Ibiki had ever been through what she had been through. If he had ever experienced it to the extent that she had. Perhaps one day, if she survived this, she would ask him._

_He entered with a loud clang. Not that it surprised her anymore. He made the same exact noise every day as he threw her cell door open._

_Sakura placed her emotionless mask. Yes, as ironic as it was, she had been unable to look completely emotionless until she had been captured and tortured months on end. No matter how hard she tried beforehand, she had always been unable to do so, but now, her mask could compete with Uchiha Itachi himself. She wanted to smile at that thought, yet she refused to allow her herself. No, it was not that she refused. She simply no longer had the ability to smile. _

"_Hello, S__himobe," she greeted in her dry, raspy voice._

"_Good morning forty-eight," he acknowledged, "Ready for your date?"_

"_Hmmm… What does not kill us, makes us stronger, ne?"_

_The young man frowned at her reaction. It was the same damn answer every day._

"_So tell me," Sakura asked, "just how long have these 'dates' been going on?"_

_Shimobe glared, "You know I can't answer that question. It doesn't matter how many times you ask."_

"_I know, but I can hope you will forget one day."_

_With that he grabbed her by her bound wrists and dragged her out of the cell._

"_Goumon is waiting for you."_

"_Ah yes," she replied sarcastically, "I wouldn't want to keep Goumon waiting now would I?"_

Sakura awoke with a start. The light was bright and caused her to close her eyes immediately. With a groan she opened them once again, only very slowly. Something seemed off somehow, but what was it? She was far too groggy, and her stomach was yelling at her for its lack of food. How long had it been since she had last eaten?

With that, her eyes shot open completely and she sat straight up. The pain that shot through her body was excruciating. She let out a pathetic scream and lay back down. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a familiar sight.

"Uchiha-taicho?"

Itachi was leaning forward, sitting with his elbows on his knees and his fingers crossed under his chin. "Haruno-san, how are you feeling?"

He could not help but to stare into her eyes. Both were open, but only one was able to see, he noticed. The fact that the iris and pupil of her right eye were clouding over was the definitive clue. Though, the thing that interested him the most was her left eye. There was no emotion shining through as it normally did, and the usual bright emerald seemed dull.

"I hurt everywhere," she replied. "Am I home?"

Itachi gave a slight nod. "Yes, you have been home for nine days now."

"Nine days, "she repeated quietly.

She sat up slowly, sighed, and bowed her head. She stared at her hands lying in her lap on top of the sheets, and the many scars on them. That was when she noticed it, the blind spot. She slowly raised her right hand to the side of her face and watched as it disappeared.

Itachi was captivated as she did this. She never showed any emotion as she realized she had lost the sight in her right eye. And as she touched the eye, she only released a quiet breath.

"I was hoping the blood and swelling were the cause of my loss of sight. So much for hope," she quietly stated and then looked up at him. "I need to speak to Tsunade-shishou."

"It is nearly three in the morning. Hokage-sama has ordered me to take your report once you have awakened," he informed her as he grabbed the notepad he had waiting.

"I see… May I have something to drink first?"

Itachi nodded and got up to pour her some water. Once the cup was in her hand, he went back to his seat and prepared to take her report.

"Just start from the beginning, and tell me what happened."

She stared at him for a moment before deciding to do as he said. After all, Uchiha Itachi was not the type of person one would want to discuss his or her worst memories with. She finished her water and then began from the beginning.

"I was about two kilometers northwest of the village I was assigned to treat when I found a young girl lying in the woods. She was incredibly sick, so I used my chakra to evaluate her condition…"

Itachi looked up from the notepad, "And?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure what happened after that. The next thing I remember was waking up in a dark cell. My wrists, fingers, and ankles were bound. I was lying on a cold stone floor, and screams could be heard echoing throughout the… well, I guess 'dungeon' would be the best way to describe it. My chakra had been drained almost completely, and my head was pounding.

At first, I panicked, and tried everything I could think of to free myself. Nothing worked though… I don't know how much time I spent panicking before I heard a door opening and footsteps heading my direction. I stopped. I didn't move a single muscle. I didn't breath. What felt like an eternity later, I saw a man walk by my cell dragging an unconscious woman behind him. He took her to the cell next to mine and slammed the door shut.

As he walked back by my cell, he stopped and smiled at me. I must have made a face or something that he found humorous because he started laughing and then walked away. It wasn't long before he came back though…"

Itachi looked up at her pause. "Haruno-san, what happened when he came back?"

Sakura turned her head to stare out the window. She did not want to see his face as she discussed this in detail. "He introduced himself…"

_The man from before returned and began unlocking her cell door. "Hello, my name is S__himobe," he said with a smile. "I will be escorting you to your date for the evening. __Goumon is very excited about meeting you."_

_With that, he grabbed her by her bound wrists and dragged her out of her cell and down the hallway to a room at the far end as she kicked and attempted to free herself. Once there, he picked her up and placed her in a cold metal chair. The light was so bright after being stuck in that dark cell that she found it difficult to open her eyes. She heard the door shut and lock. "I'll be right back princess. I have to tell my brother that his date has arrived," Shimobe said with a laugh._

_Sakura opened her eyes slowly to allow them to adjust to the light. The room was small and made of stone. There were three metal chairs. Two were on either side of a matching metal table, and one was sitting in the corner behind her. Beside the chair on the opposite side of the table, there was a smaller metal table that held a candle and many horrifying instruments that were obviously well used for interrogations. Some were rusted while others still had blood or pieces of flesh on them._

_Her first thought was that if she survived this, she would probably have one hell of an infection later. At that moment, the door opened behind her allowing entrance to three people. The first was a tall man with red hair and a tattoo of the kanji for hate on his left cheek. The man also had a scar running diagonally across his right eye from above the eyebrow to his cheek. The eye could not be seen, however, due to the fact that he wore an eye patch over it._

_The second person to enter the room was another man whom was almost as tall as the first and had the same red hair as well. This man looked a bit younger than the first. Had she not been in this situation, she would have admitted that he was quite handsome. _

_The third was a young woman with brown hair and green eyes. She wore a medic's kit on her hip, and Sakura immediately knew the girl's purpose for being here. The woman looked to be about the same age as her, was petite, and kept her head held down. She made no effort to look up at any point. Sakura guessed she did not particularly enjoy the part she had to play._

_She watched as the three took their places. The girl sat in the corner behind her, the taller man sat down in the chair across from her, and the third man stood behind her and untied the ropes that bound her and then took his place by the door. Once she had been untied, Sakura immediately began rubbing the raw flesh on her wrists._

_The man across from her watched the motion and smiled. "My name is Goumon," he introduced. "The young woman behind you is Yori, and the man behind you is Shimobe, just in case you didn't recognize him in the light." He laughed at that. The sound was grating as if he rarely ever laughed. "And what might your name be," he asked with a horrifying smile._

_Sakura just glared at him. She refused to make this easy on them._

"_Now, what's that look for? I promise the questions will only get more difficult, so you may as well answer the easy ones."_

_Again, he was met only with her glare. He sighed and looked to the other man in the room. _

"_Shimobe."_

_With that, the other man was upon her. He grabbed a hold of her left wrist and forced it down onto the table as he simultaneously twisted the other behind her back. The way he was holding her left arm against the table, his body was forcing her head to lie against her arm, effectively immobilizing her._

_Goumon leaned over and untied her hitai-ate. After removing it from her head, he slipped it into his pocket. "For my collection," he explained before he looked over to the table holding all the instruments and grabbed the candle and lit it. He then picked up one tool that looked like a very small ice pick and held it over the flame. The room was silent except for the grunts of Sakura and Shimobe as she tried to escape his hold. Goumon looked up at her from the pick that was now glowing red from the heat._

"_Are you sure you don't want to introduce yourself?"_

_Sakura looked from him to the pick and watched as he slowly brought it over hand. It was so close that she could feel the heat off of it. She sighed and looked up to Goumon. _

"_My name is Fuma Yuriko," she lied._

_Before she knew it, searing hot pain shot through her hand as he stabbed her with the hot pick. Her screams reverberated off the walls making it sound ten times louder to her own ears._

"_Don't lie to me," he said calmly. "No member of the Fuma clan is a leaf shinobi, so what is your name really? Or would you prefer to feel that pain again?"_

_She looked up with tears in her eyes and noticed the pick was over the flame again. She shuddered and closed her eyes. Another scream escaped her lips as she was once again stabbed through the hand with the red hot pick. Before she knew what was happening, she was screaming her name._

"_Ahhh, the famous apprentice to Tsunade herself," he said with a smile as he wrote her name down. "Now, how old are you?"_

_She was breathing heavily, and tears were now falling freely down her cheeks. He already knew her name, so what harm could there be in telling him her age?_

"_I'm twenty-one."_

_He looked at her and smirked as he wrote that down as well. "See, that wasn't that hard. Now, was it?"_

_She glared at him, but kept her mouth shut._

"_Hmm… Perhaps I should show you what happens when someone refuses to talk when I ask them a question. You know, just so you know what to expect if you decide to be defiant." He looked over at the man holding her down. "Shimobe, go get number thirty-two and bring her here."_

_Shimobe stood still for a moment before asking, "Are you sure about that?"_

"_Yes," Goumon replied. "Her session only ended about an hour ago. She has no fight in her at the moment."_

_With that, Sakura felt her arms being released and heard the door behind her open and shut, but she never heard the door lock. Without thinking twice, she leapt up out of her chair and rushed for the door. The moment her hand touched the handle, she felt a terrible pain in her right shoulder and was thrown to the floor by the girl called Yori. As Yori stood up, Goumon grabbed Sakura by the hair and forced her back into the chair._

_He leaned down and whispered into her ear, "You are going to regret doing that."_

_He placed his left hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, fresh pain once again ripped through her right shoulder as he tore a kunai from her flesh causing yet another loud scream to escape. He held it up in front of her to allow her to see her own blood running down the blade. Then, he wrapped his left arm around her throat to hold her head still._

"_I normally wait to do this for one of the important questions, but you've pissed me off girl." _

_Sakura's eyes immediately widened as she watched the blade draw closer to her face. She started begging him to stop, but it was useless. He placed the tip just above her eyebrow towards the midline of her face._

"_Just a warning, this will hurt a lot more than those pitiful holes in your hand." With that said, he slowly began dragging the kunai from her brow towards her right earlobe, stopping just short of reaching it._

_The pain was excruciating. She had never felt anything like it. The cut itself hurt like hell, but it was the injury to the eye mixed with the blood and tears that was causing a terrible burning sensation that made her wish she would lose consciousness. She could not stop screaming. The pain just kept getting worse and worse. She was unable to focus on anything other than her own pain. She heard voices. She felt ropes tighten around her upper arms and thorax, but to her, there was nothing but the pain. It did not subside, but after what felt like an eternity, it finally got to the point she was simply unable to scream or cry any longer. She bowed her head and finally opened her good eye to see the ropes._

"_Are you finished now," Goumon asked from his seat. When no answer came, he continued. "Good. As I said before, I usually save that for later, but you pissed me off. I mark all of my victims the same as I have been marked." He paused for a drink. "Now before you had to go make a terrible mistake, I sent Shimobe to get someone for you." _

_Sakura did not move or acknowledge he was even speaking to her. She just stared down at the ropes that now held her still. Goumon did not like being ignored. He walked over to her and grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him._

"_It's in your best interest to look at me when I speak to you," he growled. After that, he forced her to look at a bloody figure in the floor. "I would like for you to meet number thirty-two." _

_He stared down at the figure. When she did not move he motioned to Shimobe whom went to her side and grabbed her by the hair, forcing her to face Sakura. The woman let out a faint grunt but did nothing else. Sakura looked down at her in complete and utter shock. She could not tell much about the woman's appearance except that she was covered from head to toe in blood, open wounds, and scars. The largest was the scar that traveled across her right eye in the exact same place Sakura had just been cut._

"_Thirty-two! Wake up and meet our new guest! This is number forty-eight," Goumon ordered. The woman slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Sakura causing her to lose her breath. The woman's eyes… Sakura had never seen eyes like those before. The scleras of her eyes were as black as the darkest night while the iris of each eye was as white as the freshest new fallen snow. They were beautiful yet disturbing all at the same time._

"_Do you see her? She is your future. This is what happens to those who refuse to answer when I ask questions… Thirty-two is my favorite," he said with an unsettling smirk. "Out of the seventeen years I have been an interrogator, she has survived longer than any other who was in my 'care'. I would tell you just how long she has survived, but I don't need her knowing how long she's been here. You see, Thirty-two has this wonderful little ability… Her body heals faster than the normal human body. Her eye actually healed enough on its own to prevent blindness. You won't be so lucky my dear… I promise."_

_Sakura was shaking uncontrollably as Shimobe took the other woman away. She had never been so frightened in her life. She kept hoping this was all some sort of terrible nightmare that she would wake up from. She shut her eye and started praying to whatever God may be listening to please let her wake up. When she heard the sound of metal scraping against stone, she began praying harder and faster._

"_Now," Goumon started, "let's get to the important questions."_

_She felt him grab her right hand and her good eye shot open. He was sitting next to her now, since she was tied to the chair, and Shimobe reentered the room and took his place standing next to the table with all the torture devices waiting to hand Goumon what he needed. She felt an odd sensation at one of her finger tips and looked down to find Goumon holding the fingernail of her third digit with a pair of pliers. _

_She looked Goumon in the eyes as began pleading, "Please, please don't do this. I'm begging you. PLEASE!"_

_He looked up at her and started soothingly rubbing her arm. "It's ok, all you have to do is answer my questions, and no harm will come to you."_

_Sakura bowed her head and closed her eye._

"_Now, tell me," Goumon started. "Why were you so far from home? What was your mission?"_

_Sakura gave a heartfelt sighed but said nothing. She heard a low growl coming from the man beside her and braced herself for the pain she knew would follow._

_It started as an uncomfortable pressure, but quickly turned into excruciating pain that radiated throughout the entire finger. Terrible screams tore out of her already raw throat, tears poured down her face, and the nails of her left hand ripped through the skin of her palm as she clinched her fist tighter than ever before._

_Goumon waited until her screams died down before asking again, but she just whimpered pitifully. She felt the same familiar pressure as he picked another nail and grabbed a hold of it. Again, the screams were ripped from her raw throat. _

_He asked the question a total of four times which resulted in four fingernails being ripped from her hand before she finally lost consciousness from the pain. However, she did not reveal the answer to his question._

Itachi looked up from his notepad as she finished describing the first day of her capture. She was still staring out of the window avoiding his gaze. He thought for a moment on the torture she had described. If that was what she had been forced to endure during the first day, he could only imagine what had happened over nearly seven months. He knew she would rather not speak about it, but he had to ask her.

"Haruno-san, what other… tactics did they use against you during your capture?"

He noticed that as he asked this question, she allowed a small frown to slip upon the emotionless mask she had placed as she seemed to think about the question.

"Other than what I've already told you, I was cut, beaten, nearly drowned, whipped with a cat-o-nine tails, forced to submerge my hands in boiling water, choked, and electrocuted. They also inserted pins into my back, face, legs, feet, between my fingers and toes, and under my fingernails and toenails," she stated calmly and without any emotion slipping into her voice.

He thought on this for a moment before asking a question that, though he would prefer not to know, the Hokage would want answered. "Haruno-san, I know this may be a difficult topic for you, but I need to know for the report." He paused as she turned her head to look at him. "I need to know, were you raped?"

A strange look passed across her features for the briefest of moments before it disappeared. "Shimobe attempted it once, but I had just enough chakra to enhance the strength in my legs for a brief moment. My ankles may have been tied together, but I was still able to land a kick in his," she paused thinking on how best to word it, "most sensitive area. I lost consciousness immediately afterwards due to chakra exhaustion, but he never tried again... Not that I'm complaining."

Itachi, had he been a lesser man, would have flinched at the thought of a chakra enhanced kick to that specific area. The pain would have been unbearable for quite some time afterwards. However, he was Uchiha Itachi and merely gave a slight nod.

"Other than your mission, what questions did your captors ask?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment. "He wanted to know the identities of the council members of Konoha, identities of ANBU members, research that our medical teams were now conducting, which villages Konoha were allied with, and information on the Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Nara clans."

Itachi's eyes narrowed at that. "Who were your captors? What village?"

At this question, Sakura's eyes narrowed in anger, and the emotion slipped through into her voice as she answered, "It was Sound…"

"Sound? You are sure?"

"Yes," she replied. "It was a long time before I knew considering no one I ever saw wore a hitai-ate, but I knew it was Sound the moment Yakushi Kabuto paid a visit to my cell one day …"

…

AN: I'm so sorry for ending this chapter here, but I really wanted to update ASAP for all you wonderful readers! The next chapter will finish up Sakura's report and will release her from the hospital where she will be reunited with her friends.

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! I am happy to hear constructive criticism s well as what you liked =)

Thank you so much to the following readers who reviewed!

mUmaRhz – To answer your question, at this point I'm not entirely sure what to categorize this story as. It will more than likely fall into the category of drama.

minniemousemom

Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha

angel897


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